Sherry Chandler » Second thoughts department
Second thoughts department
So. I got all that rant about Obama off my chest yesterday and woke up this morning feeling considerably more charitable toward the man. Obama is fine and I’m proud that he’s a Democrat.
But I am annoyed by the odor of sanctity that has grown up around him as though he were some sort of secular saint.
Well, maybe not so secular. A Hindu physician and naturalized American of my acquaintance was offended by Obama’s declaration of Christianity. He saw it not so much as Obama’s defending himself against the Astroturf accusation that he’s Muslim as a cave-in to the religious litmus test for any political candidate in the United States. Not every citizen in the country thinks just being Muslim, or even atheist, is treason. And the Founding Fathers were against any kind of religious test for politicians.
And I am becoming very annoyed with this whole Kennedy mystique, what one might call the Sword in the Stone test.
It’s incredible to me that nearly 50 years on, we’re all still looking to John F. Kennedy as our model of a hero-king.
I was sixteen years old when Kennedy was elected, and though I had kept my head about Elvis and Ricky Nelson and James Dean, I was madly in love with JFK. My father, who had lived through World War II and had more idea of the Kennedy-family history, was not so enamored but I only saw that as one more reason to hold him in contempt. I was a teen-ager after all.
Now I’ve become my father.
Even John F. Kennedy was not John F. Kennedy.
This same Hindu physician is wont to rant at me that the United States is sorely lacking in leadership. Well, I can’t argue with that. And I realize that that is what we’re all looking for in Obama, a hero who can inspire us the way we like to think we remember JFK did.
But while I think politicians are do very necessary work and are held to an unrealistic standard, I am becoming more and more convinced that leaders do not often come from among the politicians. Or the soldiers for that matter. Leaders come from the people. And they do not necessarily look like heroes. Men like Martin Luther King, Jr. Al Gore (post politics). Women like Susan B. Anthony. Rosa Parks.
It takes, as Hillary Clinton so infamously said, a politician like Lyndon Johnson to implement a dream like Martin Luther King Jr’s. But it’s wrong to expect politicians to be the heroes.
Look where that got us with George W. Bush.
Third thoughts department: Here’s an interesting look at Obama’s Kenyan roots. I’m not real sure what to make of this but apparently Kenya is more than just an exotic backdrop to Obama.
Fourth thoughts: Sometimes I think most of the pundits and media types would rather have any man, be he black, white, or purple, than a mature woman for president.
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11 Comments
1. Helen Losse replies at 3rd February 2008, 9:58 am :
I was thirteen. And every night I kissed Kennedy good night. I still have the poster to prove it, lipstick marks and all. My brother, age 11, had a relapse of the flu, from which he had almost recovered, when Kennedy was shot. In our youth, politics and dreams were somehow intertwined. But this is now. You are so right.
2. sherry replies at 3rd February 2008, 12:05 pm :
Oh Helen, sometimes I feel very Grinchy. As though I would deny this generation their Kennedy. But … And I always come up against that but…
I love the idea of the treasured lipstick covered poster. A precious and highly valuable artifact (no joke).
3. Terry replies at 3rd February 2008, 4:42 pm :
My 2 youngest kids are fervent Obama supporters and are doing their best to steamroller me before caucus on the 9th. I have to give him credit for how he’s mobilized the young - it’s a great accomplishment. BUT … where is the substance beneath the rhetoric? I honestly don’t know how I’m going to vote.
4. sherry replies at 3rd February 2008, 6:27 pm :
Jane Hamsher of FDL says it will take both of them on a single ticket to win, Terry. I will not hold my breath for that to happen.
Do you get to vote a second choice? I guess not with only two candidates?
At any rate, I think you’re not alone. Lots of undecideds going right down to the wire this year.
5. Tommy replies at 4th February 2008, 3:33 pm :
I’m about to blow my mind.
Clinton and Obama are both mandating health insurance by requiring everyone to buy in. They’ve got several schemes for ensuring that you buy in, and of these, Obama would make people who opt out pay back premiums when they get caught, and Clinton would garnish their wages.
Atrios says that raising taxes would be better than either one of those penalty schemes. We wouldn’t have the problem with healthy folk “opting out” that leads to higher premiums and copays for everyone who’s in. Yes, it means higher taxes, but it means you pay less in taxes than you would in a deducted premium.
Besides, the Republicans have run for 30 years on lowering taxes and shoving practically all revenues they do raise towards their friends in the industrial-military complex. As a result we’re spending more on military affairs than everyone else combined at this point, while our education sucks and people are actively working to make it suck harder.
I want a nice hot bath. I suppose I could walk outside and stand in the rain, but it’s pretty chilly.
Love,
T
6. sherry replies at 4th February 2008, 3:55 pm :
I’ve been thinking about this all during my commute, Tommy, and you’re right. Both these plans stink because they’re designed to shift the cost of universal insurance onto those who can’t afford it to begin with. They’re designed not to offend corporate sponsors like the insurance companies, big pharma. And Atrios is right. Raising taxes would be cheaper. A single-payer plan like Medicare is the only thing that will really work. but we can’t do that because that would take away from those who have and give to those who don’t. So I suppose we’ll have to make do the best we can with what we’re offered. It’s always the way, Democrats or Republicans.
And, Tommy, are you thinking that neither one of them will do anything to make sure people can afford premiums? A little early to panic yet. First we have to get one of them elected, THEN we have to see what they can manage to pass.7. Sam L. Martin replies at 4th February 2008, 11:05 pm :
In July of 1969 I had a serious motorcycle accident in Scotland. I was taken by ambulance to the hospital in Dingwall, where I stayed for several days in a private room. Then I was transferred to the hospital in Inverness for several more days, this time in a ward. When I was released, I was sure that I would spend the rest of my adult life working off the hospital bills, so I asked the doctor what I owed. He said, “If you were a U.S. serviceman, we would bill your unit, but you’re not. You’re a private citizen, and the accident happened on a public road, so there’s no charge. Every citizen in Great Britain pays the equivalent of 85 cents American every week, and everyone gets the care they need. Here’s a copy of your x-rays that you’ll need to take to a dentist to get the work done.” Now, I’m not a dancer, but Barishnikov would have clapped if he had seen me leave the hospital. Even the dour Scots on the sidewalk smiled. I went to a pub and had a few ales to celebrate, then to the train station where I had a coda. In my happy condition, I forgot about my x-rays and left them in a locker at the train station. When I finally went to the dentist, they had records of my x-rays, so work proceeded normally on a right alveolar fracture, nine teeth
missing, and a lip split completely through. The interesting part of this care was that the work was performed by a dental assistant, not a dental surgeon. That cut costs. A “horeshoe,” as I call it, was installed into my mouth so that my face wouldn’t fall off, and I was told how long to wear it. There was no charge. I returned to the states and got the needed work done for $998.00, with $728.00 covered by my insurance. I paid the $270.00 difference. This is my only experience with “socialised medicine,” but I understand that Great Britain had major problems later and changed how they were doing things. Can anybody tell me their changes?
8. Sam L. Martin replies at 4th February 2008, 11:09 pm :
“Your comment is awaiting moderation.” What’s that about?
9. sherry replies at 5th February 2008, 5:38 am :
Wow, Sam! What a story. Thanks. Eighty-five cents a week! I think we’re having the wool pulled over our eyes and it’s not from some highland sheep.
10. sherry replies at 5th February 2008, 5:41 am :
I apologize that your comment got caught in my spam filter, Sam. It’s supposed to hold any comment that comes through for a first-time commenter. Then after I okay that i.d., comments go up automatically. But once in a while it catches comments it ought to let through. Some slight difference in the way the i.d. info is entered or something, I guess.
11. Tommy replies at 5th February 2008, 9:39 am :
Eh, even the big dogs like Pandagon have problems with automated comment moderation.
The alternative is to moderate by hand. And if we Americans don’t have time for pain, we certainly don’t have time for the pain in the neck that is weeding out 1,000 spam comments to save a handful of actual people’s comments.
So I think in general everyone uses automatic spam catchers.
Glad to hear you got taken care of so well, Sam. I knew a girl who didn’t eat at all in France, and when she collapsed from low blood sugar she got taken to the hospital. I don’t think she got charged for anything, but the only thing she would talk about was a conversation between the two ambulance attendants over some issue (I forget which) that led to one of the participants declaring huffily that he was a Buddhist, anyway.
Never did get to the bottom of that….
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